P. cuspidatum Schreber, de Phasc. p. 8. t. 1. f. 2. Hedwig, var. B., leaves longer, lanceolate; capsule smaller. var. y. Schreberianum; stem elongated, branched, dichotomous; leaves spreading, distant. P. Schreberianum Dickson, fasc. 4. t. 10. Smith, Fl. P. affine Bryol. Germ. t. 7. f. 19. var. d. piliferum; stem simple or branched; capsule immersed; pedicel curved; leaves piliferous. P. piliferum Schreber, 1. c. t. 1. f. 7. Nees and Hornsch. 1. c. t. 6. f. 17. var. E. curvisetum; capsule laterally exserted; pedicel curved, longer. ** P. curvisetum Dickson, fasc. 4. t. 10. f. 4. Smith, Eng. Bot. t. 2259. Nees and Hornsch. 1. c. t. 7. f. 18.* var. . elatum; stem elongated, simple or branched; upper leaves lanceolate, cuspidate; capsule subpendulous, laterally exserted on a longer pedicel. P. elatum Bridel, Bryol. Univ. I. 45. Schwaegr. Suppl. t. 1. Nees and Hornsch. 1. c. t. 7. Hab. Hedges, moist banks, and fields, very common, especially in a sandy soil. Fr. March. A very variable species. Stems usually tufted, short and simple, or elongated and dichotomous. Leaves light green, erect, connivent, sometimes spreading; lower ones small, ovate-lanceolate; upper ones oblong-lanceolate, carinate, concave, margin reflexed, entire, somewhat papillose on both sides, nerve excurrent. Capsule obscurely rostellate, chestnut colour. Pedicel usually short and erect, seldom quite straight, sometimes longer and much curved, bulbed at the base, within the cavity of the roundish vaginula. Calyptra conico-campanulate, or cucullate, small, yellowish. Barren flowers in the axils of the stem-leaves, the involucral leaf mostly solitary, nerveless, sometimes wanting; antheridia mixed with clavate paraphyses. This species seems to vary according to the soil and local influences to which it is subjected. The leaves are always somewhat cuspidate or bristle-pointed, but in the var. . piliferum, which generally grows near the sea, they have quite a hoary aspect, from their white filiform points. P. carniolicum of Web. and Mohr, which has not been found in Britain, is allied to this, but quite distinct, having leaves of firmer texture, yellowish-green, more concave, not carinate nor papillose; margin plane or incurved; nerve thicker, scarcely excurrent; areola smaller; capsule rostellate, on a very short straight pedicel; barren fl. 6-leaved. The diagnosis is well given by Web. and Mohr. in Bot. Tasch. p. 450. Of P. stellatum Bridel, Br. Univ. i. 24. nothing is at present known. It was found near Shrewsbury by Mr. Green, and may be only a variety of P. cuspidatum, with spreading leaves. 11. Phascum bryoides Dickson (tall Earth-Moss); stem simple or branched; lower leaves ovate-acuminate, upper leaves ovate-lanceolate, concave, erect, margin reflexed, nerve excurrent; capsule exserted, elliptical, obliquely pointed. (TAB. V.) Phascum bryoides Dicks. Crypt. fasc. 4. t. 10. f. 3. Smith, Eng. Bot. t. 1180. Schwaegr. Suppl. t. 2. Nees and Phascum gymnostomoides Bridel, Bryol. Univ. 1. p. 48. var. B., leaves piliferous. var. y. piliferum Bryol. Germ. var. y. curvisetum; pedicel longer, curved. var. d. capsule rounder, pedicel very short. var. B. Bryol. Germ. var. ɛ. smaller, with piliferous leaves. var. B. minus Bridel. Phascum pusillum Schleicher. var. E. Thornhillü, leaves spreading, subreflexed, spathulatolanceolate, margin plane, nerve slightly excurrent; capsule narrowly elliptical, rostrate, pedicel elongated. Phascum Thornhillii Wilson, MSS. Hab. Banks and fields, rare. Near Newcastle, Mr. Thornhill. Stem erect or decumbent at the base, 2-3 lin. long. Leaves erect, entire, upper ones larger and longer, almost connivent, margin reflexed, nerve excurrent, forming a bristly point. Pedicel more or less elongated, twisting to the right, as it dries. Capsule tapering at the base, elliptical or ovate, with a small oblique beak, brown. Calyptra dimidiate, covering half the capsule. Barren flowers gemmiform, in the axils of the lower leaves of the fertile stem, sometimes terminal on a short branch, occasionally clustered. Phascum Thornhillii may be a distinct species, but it has only been observed in two localities, scattered in single specimens, amongst Pottia truncata B., which it much resembles in the foliage. It differs from the typical form of P. bryoides in the following characters. Leaves nearly twice as long, narrower, subspathulate, lax, and spreading, not at all recurved in the margin, nerve scarcely excurrent. Capsule longer, with a longer beak, the pedicel and vaginula nearly twice as long. Barren flower with fewer leaves, and sometimes the antheridia are naked. Spores smaller, slightly muriculate. We find no trace of a dehiscent lid. D SECT. IV. Barren flower in the axil of a perichatial leaf, with clavate paraphyses, or sometimes (according to Bruch and Schimper) discoid, terminal, on a short branch at the base of the fertile stem. Allied to Funaria. 12. Phascum patens Hedw. (spreading Earth-Moss); stem short; leaves spreading, obovate-lanceolate, serrulate, nerve vanishing below the point; capsule spherical-apiculate, on a very short pedicel. (TAB. V.) Phascum patens Hedw. St. Crypt. i. t. 10. Turner, Musc. Hib. Smith, Eng. Bot. t. 1279. Schwaegr. Hook. and Tayl. Nees and Hornsch. Bryol. Germ. t. 5. Bridel. Br. and Schimp. Bryol. Eur. fasc. 1. Monogr. p. 9. t. 3. Physcomitrella patens Bryol. Eur. fasc. 42. t. 2. var. B., leaves narrower, very tender. P. megapolitanum Schultz. Nees and Hornsch. Bryol. var. y., pedicel elongated. Hab. Clay-fields and banks, and on the dried beds of shallow pools. Fr. Autumn. Stem 1-3 lines in length. Lower leaves scattered, lanceolate, spreading or reflexed; upper leaves larger, crowded, more or less spreading, often recurved, somewhat spathulate, concave, more or less acuminated, serrulate, loosely reticulated; nerve thin, ceasing below the point. Capsule concealed amongst the leaves, round, somewhat pointed, of thin fragile texture, pale brown, subsessile. Calyptra conico-campanulate. Spores rather large, roughish. Barren flower naked, in the axil of a perichætial leaf; antheridia 6—8, small, rarely accompanied by clavate paraphyses. Schistidium serratum of Hook. and Wils. (Drummond's Mosses of the Southern United States, n. 2.) may possibly be a state of Phascum patens, with a regularly dehiscent lid, the hemispherical capsule of thicker texture, and the antheridia more copiously mixed with clavate paraphyses. It is Aphanorhegma serrata of Sullivant (Gray's Manual, Bot. Ú. S.). Compare also Gymnostomum niloticum of Bridel, and Ephemerum patens d. anomalum of Hampe (Musc. Blankenberg, n. 83.) Phascum recurvifolium of Dickson, and of Bryol. Germ., often referred to P. patens, is a distinct species. SECT. V. Stems increasing in length by innovations; capsule, from this cause, often lateral; leaves narrow, almost setaceous. PLEURIDIUM Bryol. Eur. ASTOмUM Hamp. C. Mull. 13. Phascum nitidum Hedw. (delicate Earth-Moss); leaves suberect, carinate, linear-lanceolate or lanceolate, obscurely toothed near the apex; nerve vanishing; capsule oval, shortly pedicellate. (TAB. V.) P. nitidum Hedwig, St. Cr. i. t. 34. Sp. Musc. Schwaegr. Suppl. I. 1. p. 7. Bridel. Br. and Sch. Bryol. Europ. fasc. 1. p. 12. t. 6. P. axillare Dickson, fasc. 1. t. 1. f. 3. Turner, Musc. P. stagninum Wallr. Linn. 1840, p. 680. Pleuridium nitidum Bryol. Eur. fasc. 43. t. 1. Astomum nitidum Hampe. C. Müll. Syn. Musc. var. ß. strictum; stem very short; leaves narrower, straight, crowded; capsule roundish. P. strictum Dickson, fasc. 4. t. 10. f. 1. Smith, Fl. Brit. Eng. Bot. t. 2093. Mougeot and Nestler, n. 605. Hab. Moist banks, and on the dried sediment of shallow pools. Fr. Autumn, Spring. Stems 1-6 lines long, erect, simple, or branched with innovations immediately below the fertile flower, hence often bearing several capsules, in different stages, at intervals, along the stem, and apparently lateral, though really terminal. Leaves crowded or scattered, sometimes spreading, or reflexed, usually erect, channelled and keeled, gradually tapering from the base, upper leaves the longest, margin plane, nerve rather indistinct, ceasing just below the subdenticulate apex. Capsule elliptical, with a short oblique point, pale brown, of fragile texture, its pale pedicel rather longer than the vaginula. Calyptra dimidiate. Inflorescence monoicous; antheridia naked, in the axils of the perichætial leaves. Differs from P. subulatum, its nearest ally, in its more delicate habit, having the upper leaves shorter, more loosely reticulated, not setaceous. 14. Phascum subulatum Lin. (awl-leaved Earth-Moss); stemleaves lanceolate, suberect; perichætial leaves lanceolate-subulate, nerve rather broad, ceasing near the apex; capsule immersed, roundish-ovate. (TAB. V.) Phascum subulatum Lin. Sp. Pl. 1570. Schreber de Hab. Banks and fields, common. Stems tufted, 1-3 lines in length, simple, rarely branched, seldom found with innovations. Leaves narrower and more rigid than in the last, with a wider nerve, not carinate; perichætial leaves longer, almost setaceous, crowded, erect. Capsule pale-brown, oval, on a very short straight pedicel. Calyptra dimidiate. Antheridia naked, in the axils of the perichætial leaves. P. palustre of Br. and Schimp. is allied to this, having the same inflorescence, but the calyptra is mitriform, many-parted at the base, and the capsule is ovate, widened at the base and larger; the perichætial leaves as in P. alternifolium. 15. Phascum alternifolium Br. and Schimp. (long-leaved Earth-Moss); stem with or without innovations; stem-leaves lanceolate-acuminate, dilated at the base; perichætial leaves subulato-setaceous from a dilated base, nerve thick and much excurrent; capsule ovate, immersed; barren fl. gemmiform. (TAB. XXXVII.) Phascum alternifolium Bryol. Eur. fasc. 1. tab. 17. p. 15. Pleuridium alternifolium ß. germanicum Bridel, Bryol. Pleuridium alternifolium Bryol. Eur. fasc. 43. t. 2. Astomum alternifolium Hampe. C. Müll. Syn. Musc. Hab. Banks and fallow ground; perhaps not rare, but generally mistaken for P. subulatum. Near Forfar, G. Donn, in Herb. Turn. Near Warrington. Sussex, Mr. Mitten. Near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Mr. Robertson. Near Falkirk, Mr. T. Lyle. Fr. Spring. Stems annual, unless continued by the growth of innovations in wet and mild seasons; sometimes, though rarely, an inch long, erect, at length more or less procumbent and branched. Leaves more dilated at the base than in P. subulatum, more rigid, the nerve thicker, broader and predominant, especially in the perichætial leaves, which are very long, the upper half consisting of the nerve only, without any accompanying lamina; all the leaves minutely serrulate near the apex. Capsule immersed, obliquely pointed, brown, on a short straight pedicel as in the last. Spores small, very numerous. Calyptra dimidiate. Barren flowers gemmiform. This is distinguished from P. subulatum by the long, strongly nerved perichætial leaves, suddenly dilated at the base, and by the gemmiform barren flowers. The synonymy of this moss is incorrectly given in Bryologia Europea, the first work in which we find it intelligibly distinguished from Archidium phascoides, if we except Bridel's very ambiguous moss above cited. Dickson's P. alternifolium certainly belongs to Archidium phascoides, and so also does that of Eng. Bot. t. 2107. and of Schwaegrichen, Suppl. t. 10. The two species, P. subulatum and alternifolium, appear to have been distinguished much earlier on the Continent than in Britain, though few were aware of any difference between the latter and Dickson's moss, and Bridel appears to have confounded them in his description. Dickson's moss is correctly described by himself as having a sessile capsule; Schwaegrichen therefore errs in saying "theca secundum Dicksonum breviseta." SECT. VI. Stems more or less branched, perennial; leaves linear-lanceolate, of firm texture, crisped when dry, strongly nerved; capsule with traces of a dehiscent lid; barren fl. terminal on a branch, gemmiform, sometimes axillary. ASTOMUM, Bryol. Eur. Closely allied to Hymenostomum of Brown, and of Bruch and Schimper, and indeed not distinguishable, except by the scarcely persistent lid and shorter |